Disposal of Oil-Field Salt Waters
W. S. Morris
Vice President and General Manager
East Texas Salt Water Disposal Company
Kilgore, Texas
The first oil well in the United States was completed in 1859 in
the Bradford area of Pennsylvania. From that beginning, over 870,000
oil wells have been drilled in the United States. Many of these oil
wells produce from underground reservoirs whose energy is furnished
by a hydrostatic head of water: such oil fields are known as water-
drive fields. In other oil fields gas under pressure is the source of
energy, in which cases the reservoir is known as a gas-drive field.
These are the two principal sources of energy in oil fields; but, as
may be expected, there are some fields that have a combination of both
water drive and gas pressure.
In the water-drive oil fields, water from the underground reservoir
is produced to the surface as a necessary part of the fluids that are
withdrawn. The waters found in conjunction with oil below ground
are salt waters, believed to be waters from ancient seas trapped under¬
ground. The disposal of salt water after it is produced to the surface,
along with the oil, is a problem that constantly confronts the oil pro¬
ducer. Not long ago it was the common practice of the oil producer
to dispose of the salt water by dumping it into surface drainage 01
controlled release into fresh-water steams. These methods of disposal
have been outlawed in an effort to protect the fish and other animal
life in the streams. The effect of salt water on livestock is usually
fatal. Furthermore, where fresh waters are used for domestic or in¬
dustrial uses, the presence of salt water even in relatively small per¬
centages, renders the water unfit for use. Consequently, the disposal of
salt water in large volumes presents a serious problem to the oil-produc¬
ing industry.
In another branch of the petroleum industry, the early oil refiners
were confronted with a serious disposal problem of the product known
as gasoline. The early refiners were concerned with the production
of "lamp oil" or kerosene as a substitute for fish and animal oils. The
production of the lighter and heavier fractions of the crude petroleum
presented a serious waste-disposal problem, which was frequently and
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